Foreigners and lese majeste

The Wall Street Journal reports on the latest from erratic Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, saying that the current political crisis has “spilled into the diplomatic arena” with Kasit censuring “some envoys for meeting last week with Red Shirt leaders.”

Kasit warned: “We do not want to see that happening again,” saying that he had  met with the Philippine Ambassador Antonio V. Rodriguez, who is the current dean of the Bangkok diplomatic corps, and expressed his concern about the meeting.

Sending a note to his fellow diplomats, “Mr. Rodriguez said Mr. Kasit accused some ambassadors of voicing opposition to the constitutional monarchy and criticizing the government’s handling of the crisis. Thailand’s king is nearly universally revered, and laws severely restrict discussion of him.” If this is even remotely correct, PPT would love to know more. In terms of criticizing the constitutional monarchy, we feel it is just the balmy royalist “interpretation.”

Of course, Kasit said only two weeks ago that there should be a more open discussion of the monarchy, so this diplomatic outburst makes no sense at all. Maybe that was a case of temporary brain failure from a royalist?

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has said that American diplomats are “intensively engaged in discussions” with both the government and opposition forces. Does that constitute an offense against Thailand?

Foreign diplomats should be criticizing the Abhisit Vejjajiva government for its abominable handling of the crisis.

How many other enemies can this paranoid government find? There is now an odor of Burmese military junta about this government.